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Ronan O'Gara goes big as La Rochelle face Bath side missing England stars
By Josh Raisey
Ronan O’Gara has laid to rest any concerns that he may rest some of his La Rochelle stars for their opening match of the Investec Champions Cup by naming a formidable outfit to run out at Bath’s Rec on Friday.
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The two-time European champions have named as strong an XV as possible as they look to reclaim their title having crashed out at the quarter-final stage last season.
Of course, the Top 14 outfit are dealing with injuries, notably France flanker Paul Boudehent, but O’Gara has avoided wholesale changes.
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan has adopted a similar approach, although he has opted to rest England centre Ollie Lawrence this weekend. Fortunately, such is Bath’s depth, Scotland centre Cameron Redpath will come into the midfield to replace Lawrence.
Bath are already without another England star, Sam Underhill, who sustained an ankle in the first half of England’s victory over Japan in November.
With Bath sat at the top of the Gallagher Premiership currently, this promises to be one of the games of the weekend.
La Rochelle, meanwhile, are in sixth place in the Top 14.
Bath XV: 1 Thomas du Toit, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Miles Reid, 9 Ben Spencer ©, 10 Finn Russell, 11 Will Muir, 12 Will Butt, 13 Cameron Redpath, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville
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Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Max Ojomoh, 23 Jaco Coetzee
La Rochelle XV: 1 Reda Wardi, 2 Tolu Latu, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Thomas Lavault, 5 Will Skelton, 6 Oscar Jegou, 7 Matthias Haddad, 8 Grégory Alldritt (c), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 10 Ihaia West, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 12 Jonathan Danty, 13 Ulupanon Seutani, 14 Jack Nowell, 15 Brice Dulin
Replacements: 16 Quentin Lespiaucq, 17 Louis Penverne, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe Reazel, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Levani Botia, 21 Thomas Berjon, 22 Hugo Reus, 23 Teddy Thomas